and the power of God protects you by faith till you do inherit the salvation which is all ready to be revealed at the last hour.

that is only to prove your faith is sterling (far more precious than gold which is perishable and yet is tested by fire), and it redounds to your praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

come to him then ??come to that living Stone which men have rejected and God holds choice and precious,

a stone over which men stumble and a rock of offence; they stumble over it in their disobedience to God's word. Such is their appointed doom.

but inside, in the heart, with the immortal beauty of a gentle and modest spirit, which in the sight of God is of rare value.

who had disobeyed at the time when God's patience held out during the construction of the ark in the days of Noah ??the ark by which only a few souls, eight in all, were brought safely through the water.)